In article <Pine.SUN.3.95L.960916233452.11958D-100000@inibara.cc.columbia.edu>,
Ralph L Holloway <rlh2@columbia.edu> wrote:>>When neuron packing density is high, the cells tend to be smaller and have>fewer ddendritic branches. I sincerely doubt that that correlates>"positively" with brain size, which tends to show quite the opposite (see
[snip]

Thanks! I've asked for the ref I referred to, and will chase it down.
Maybe that will shed light on what's going on here (I have probably
somehow garbled the meaning of the paper I mentioned).

>>What exactly is "developmental stability"?

"Good development." Developmental *in*stability is imprecise expression
of developmental pathways. The classic measure of DI is fluctuating
asymmetry in normally bilaterally symmetrical traits (like hands, eyes,
etc.). hence, at a population level, traits which are supposed to be
symmetrical will have a normal distribution of left minus right values
with a mean of zero, or symmetry. (Drawing this may make what I'm saying
more comprehensible.)